It started early on! There weren’t a lot of other children around where I grew up, but there were a lot of elderly people. The bookmobile would come around so that those without transportation were able to get something to read, and in the summers I would stand in line with them. I loved to check out mysteries from Agatha Christie and other authors, and then I discovered Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the great Edgar Allan Poe.

You’ve reviewed over 800 books on your BL blog. What do you enjoy about book blogging the most?

What I enjoy the most about blogging/reviewing is giving and getting book recommendations. I just love when someone tries a book I recommended and they like it. Conversely, I always feel bad when a person tries a book I recommended and they do NOT like it.

You’re a horror book lover. Why this genre is so special for you? What do you cherish the most about it?

Horror is often about outsiders and being an outsider, that always appealed to me. I felt like an outsider during most of my time in junior high and in high school and I related to those kinds of stories. What I cherish the most about the horror genre is the community. I help moderate a group on Goodreads, (Horror Aficionados), and we now have nearly 13,500 members. They are the best bunch of people, authors and readers both, they’re supportive, smart and funny and they welcome everyone! What’s not to cherish about that?

If not horror, than what? Do you often switch to another genre or is horror your ultimate love?

I do like to switch things up at times. I love to read biographies and autobiographies, as well as classics, mysteries, thrillers and true crime. Horror is my ultimate love though, and I never stray away for too long.

There are many sub-genres of horror. Can you tell more about them to our readers?

As you’ve stated, there are many! These days, my favorites lean more towards Quiet Horror. This is horror that generally does not feature a lot of blood and guts. No slashers or torturing or things like that. It’s heavier on atmosphere, building dread and those things caught out of the corner of your eye.

I also enjoy Cosmic Horror. Now this can include parts of H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos and the monsters he created, or it can be more generic and just reflect the cold, unfeeling universe and the lowly place of mankind within it. I also enjoy ghost stories, creature features, (fun books with imaginative monsters, and usually faced paced killing), and haunted house tales.

Are there any particular titles you’re impatiently waiting for this fall/winter season?

Yes, I’ve been waiting for Joe Hill’s latest title, Strange Weather and I finally got it on Saturday at the Merrimack Valley Halloween Book Festival. Joe Hill appeared there and his fans were able to purchase copies prior to the book officially going on sale 10.24.17.

We’ve noticed the horror audiobooks on your BookLikes bookshelf, recently you’ve also interviewed a horror story narrator -- do you prefer reading or listening to horror stories? Is there any difference in experiencing the novels?

I prefer reading to listening, actually. In a very few cases though, a worthy narrator can elevate my reading experience. This has happened on a few occasions. The first was when I listened to Kate Mulgrew narrate Joe Hill’s NOS4A2. Her narration brought the story even more alive than Hill already had and that changed my original rating from when I read the book of 4/5 stars to ALL the stars.

Bravo to both Joe Hill and Kate Mulgrew for the hours of pleasure that is the audible book NOS4A2! Read a full review ->

The second time this happened is actually still happening, with Matt Godfrey’s narration of Michael McDowell’s Blackwater. Since this saga is set in Alabama, and Matt is from Alabama, the accents and voices have really come alive for me, even more so than when I read the books a few years back. It’s amazing! (And HE’S amazing!)

Generally, my reading is booked far in advance. I have this crazy urge to haunt sites like NetGalley and Edelweiss for advance review copies of books. I generally try to read them by the publication dates, so that usually determines what I’m going to read next. I had challenged myself to read 40 books that I ALREADY OWN this year, and I’ve only read 7. That’s because I just can’t stop myself from browsing the books that are coming out soon and requesting them. I just want to read ALL the books.

A paper book or an e-book?

Both!

Halloween is coming near. Can you suggest three titles to juice up a Halloween party?

1.Haunted Nights, edited by Ellen Datlow and Lisa Morton. This is an excellent collection of short stories all connected by Halloween.

Anywhere, really, but my favorites are in my recliner, by the pool, or in what I optimistically call my library.

Your favorite quote?

We are born able to sing to birds and read the clouds and see our destiny in grains of sand. But then we get the magic educated right out of our souls. We get it churched out, spanked out, washed out, and combed out. We get put on the straight and narrow and told to be responsible. Told to act our age. Told to grow up, for God's sake. And you know why we were told that? Because the people doing the telling were afraid of our wildness and youth, and because the magic we knew made them ashamed and sad of what they'd allowed to wither in themselves. - Robert McCammon, from Boy's Life

If you could meet one literary character, who would it be?

I think I would like to sit down with Mary Love from Blackwater by Michael McDowell. I would love to hear her Alabama accent and ask her why she acted the way she did as the matriarch of her Southern family.